Spiritual Warfare
Join the Prayer Campaign slated for tomorrow!
We are painfully aware—as we have heard from some of you readers—that those of you in various occupations and industries (first responders, police, fire, healthcare workers of all sorts, airline workers, etc.) have had difficult choices to make vis à vis taking the jab, resigning, or getting fired.
A little more than a week ago, I heard from a long-time friend who is a healthcare professional. He related that he was facing the same situation due to the “vaccine” mandate. Yesterday, he phoned me, to share some recent events in this regard. To protect my friend’s identity, I will call him “Elmer.”
In communication with Elmer today, I have changed certain other facts (names, dates, etc.) in order to also guard the identities of others involved.
Early this morning I read the email with a copy of his testimonial letter that he has sent to my good friend and colleague, Dr. Stephen Jones of God’s Kingdom Ministries. Elmer’s letter is compelling from several perspectives, and thus, with Elmer’s and Stephen’s permission, I am sharing this testimony.
I encourage all my readers to go to Stephen’s blog of yesterday and to join with all of us tomorrow in this Prayer Campaign. Now here is Elmer’s testimony:
Stephen,
I knew something was up in the Spiritual realm. Bottom line up front: I say “Amen” to the scheduled prayer campaign for Friday (Isa. 45:7 and Elisha’s story in 2 Kings 6:8-23).
The back story is long... On Monday, Oct 25th, I was traveling on my way home from visiting my brother. I stopped in Asheville to have lunch with James Bruggeman.
We dined at a place where they give you a number atop an 18’ metal rod with a pedestal to stand it on your table so the server knows where to bring the food after the order is placed.
We were given Number 14, so I knew it would be a loving feast. We decided to dine outside. I joked with James as we walked out the door that I should walk in front of him holding up the number 14 up like an altar boy would do with the priest in church. Being as we are both reformed ex-Catholics, he got my joke.
Anyway, we sat down to share our daily bread outside at a place called the Atlanta Bread Company under a warm sun and with a lovely, gentle breeze. I had water to drink with my meal, like I usually do.
It’s always nice to speak peacefully with like-minded people and share what God is doing in our lives. The conversation turned to vaccine mandates and I mentioned what God was showing me.
It struck me (and many others have commented) the government is artificially setting up two classes of people: vaccinated and unvaccinated. It is true there are nefarious actors acting out of a profit motive or worse, some kind of population control motive. These people are not blind to anything—they know exactly what they are doing.
However, there exists a large class of vaccinated people who truly and blindly believe that this medical procedure is the only way to prevent disease or death from the evil they call corona virus.
They also believe vaccination is the only way out of a pandemic. Furthermore, they believe the unvaccinated just need to get educated so they can “see the light”, then become vaccinated, and so to become saved from an evil called corona virus.
Some of these vaccinated people believe that if the unvaccinated refuse to accept the outreach and education provided, well then, the unvaccinated are hopelessly lost.
They should be labelled as such: “vaccine-deniers”, “asymptomatic disease spreaders”, “selfish”, etc. The conclusion the blindly vaccinated inevitably reach is this: the unvaccinated should be excluded from the society of the vaccinated.
The blindly vaccinated believe these things because they are taught it every day from so-called government leaders and their mouthpieces in the media. Even though there are other viewpoints to be considered, the vaccinated reject those alternatives as misinformation and carry on in their blindness.
So, while their outward actions to educate others may appear to be out of a motive of caring for their fellow man, however the intention of their heart is to control other people’s behavior and exclude those who do not conform. It’s almost as if God has blinded the eyes and hardened the hearts of the vaccinated… {Elmer is saying that with a knowing wink.—JWB}
I told James this attitude seems very similar to the way the majority of Christians blindly believe torment in hell/eternal separation from God/nothingness for those who do not know Christ. They have been taught by their church leaders to blindly follow the notion there are two classes of people in the world: saved and unsaved.
Furthermore, these blinded Christians believe they must go and “love on people” or “reach the unsaved” by “teaching them about the love of Jesus.” That sounds good but they never say the quiet part out loud:
“If we don’t educate or love these unsaved people they are going to end up in hell/eternally separated from God, etc. If the unsaved won’t listen to us, well then, those sinners out there are hopelessly lost and should be labelled as such: un-churched, non-believers, the damned, etc.”
Furthermore, these blinded Christians believe the unsaved shouldn't be allowed to fellowship with the members of their “saved” church.
If one dares to mention the alternative that Jesus’ shed blood on the cross covered every sin that has been/is being/or ever will be committed, or if one mentions that God has a plan to save everybody, those alternatives are labelled as heresy.
Those who mention these things are disfellowshipped by the mainstream church. The intent of these blinded Christians is to control other people’s behavior and exclude those who do not conform. It’s almost as if God has blinded the eyes and hardened the heart of the church…
As we were discussing these things, the weather began to change. A cold front was moving in. The wind suddenly picked up significantly from the west. That “rushing wind” immediately suggested to me—and James agreed—that this was a spiritual indication of some kind of change. The rushing wind caused the ABC employee to come out and take down the umbrellas over the outdoor dining tables before they caused the tables to be overturned! Hmmm…
Later as we departed, I mentioned to James that a vaccine mandate was forthcoming where I work. We both agreed to pray about it. After I arrived home, I noticed I wasn’t sleeping well, and a spotty rash developed on my lower back. I suspected something spiritual was going on, but it wasn’t until this week Father started showing me a bit more.
Monday (11/1): After praying about it over the weekend I was led to Proverbs 16:7 and to James’ blog on how to live in Mystery Babylon, according to Jeremiah 29:7. {Note by JWB: This is Chapter 50 of my series, Mystery Babylon and the Stone Kingdom. It is in three parts; part 1 of Chapter 50 begins here.}
On Monday morning, I resigned from my job to pursue another opportunity with a non-profit. As a side note, I was offered this opportunity a few months ago, shortly after my mother died, but I just couldn’t do it at the time.
Having already recovered from Covid, and after spending a lot of time getting educated on what has really been going on the past two years, I knew I would not comply with the company’s mandate.
I decided I would try to approach the situation at my job in peace because it was more important to pray for these people rather than fight them. I did not mention the vaccine mandate in my resignation letter and kept the tone positive and upbeat.
My immediate supervisor thanked me for my five years with the company and welcomed me back anytime. A short time later, one of the Directors of the company asked if she could speak with me and we agreed to a phone call on Wednesday.
Tuesday (11/2): I learned from my doctor that I am having some type of immune response which is causing the rash on my back. I suspected that already. The plan is to check back in 4-6 weeks to see if it resolves. I immediately knew there was something I needed to pray about because the resolution would take some time.
Later on in the day, I learned that the pastor of a local, long-standing, evangelical church called XYZ Church {name disguised—JWB} was arrested in a sting operation that targeted adult men soliciting minors for prostitution.
Wednesday (this morning): I learned that my son’s mother, who is not a member of any church, had been invited to the XYZ Church a few months ago. She is part of a group of people who have been going to the U.S. southern border and documenting suspected child trafficking.
She was asked to pray in XYZ Church on September 2nd “to end the abuse of children.” While she was praying on stage in front of this church, the pastor (mentioned above) was seated next to her in prayer as well.
God answered both their prayers in not-so-mysterious ways. My son’s mom believes the pastor has a decent heart and God will work this situation for good. So far, XYZ Church has made no comment… which speaks volumes in itself. It struck me that believers outside the church in America will change the hearts of believers inside the church.
Around 10:40 a.m. I received a call from one of the Directors of the company I resigned from on Monday. We had previously agreed to a phone call at 10 a.m. so when the call came in 40minutes late, I knew this was a test. After pleasantries, the Director got right to the question I knew she would ask:
How did I feel about vaccine mandates? I told her I did not support them, but I understood the Board of Directors could make any decision they wanted. She replied the board was just trying to get ahead of the upcoming federal mandate.
Plus, she said, since the company accepted Medicare, they would have had to issue a mandate if they wanted to keep seeing Medicare patients and getting Medicare insurance reimbursements.
I pushed back slightly and mentioned the mandate wasn’t official yet and thought it would be interesting to see what the final OSHA language would be. She immediately snapped, “It (the mandate) is going to happen!”
I demurred (remembering we are still in Mystery Babylon), and said I really enjoyed working at the company. Then she said something I did not expect. She stated she would welcome me back if things don’t work out at my new job!
I was pleasantly surprised, yet I was struck by her blindness. She was blind to the fact the federal insurance called Medicare was economically coercing the company to comply with a not-yet-official mandate.
She was also blind to the fact the Board of Directors decided to pass that economic coercion along in the form of a company policy to coerce employees to take a so-called vaccine… for the good of the employee, don’t you know.
It also struck me she didn’t acknowledge that 19 state Attorneys-General have filed suit over the mandate regarding federal workers and more lawsuits will be filed once the language from OSHA is finalized and published regarding private companies with over 100 employees.
But I held my tongue. I perceived this person was looking for a fight and I wasn’t going to give it to them because it was more important to pray *FOR* them.
Shortly thereafter, I received an email from my former boss stating although I would no longer have access to the payroll software, that in her termination report of me, she checked the box that said “able to rehire” "if you are ever interested in coming back." I don’t what the Lord has planned or if I will return to this company, but I thanked God for resolving the situation without a fight.
Around noon today {Nov.3 - JWB}: I read your blog {Dr. Jones’ blog announcing the Prayer Campaign} regarding 11/5. Things became very clear. The poison of blindness being spread is not just from the so-called rulers of this world.
The poison is being spread by the church. It is the heart of the blind church that falsely divides God’s creation into “saved” and “unsaved” in a perverse form of spiritual tyranny. Thus, the heart of the nation and even the world reflects this attitude in the form of medical tyranny.
To be sure, there are leaders, like Augustine centuries ago or Fauci in our day, who know the real agenda is about control. These leaders foster the Spirit of Blindness upon those who accept without question what is taught and preached.
However, there is a greater truth that is being revealed: God is in control of everything in His right AND in His left hand. It’s time to take things up in prayer with the Boss who writes the devil’s (Samael’s) paycheck.
So, I want to thank you for calling the prayer campaign for Friday. I bear witness to the one true God, the Creator of All Things who will answer our prayer (Isa. 45:7 and Elisha’s story in 2 Kings 6:8-23). God gave me these verses as I was praying about Friday’s campaign.
You’ll recall 2 Kings, chapter 6, begins with the story of Elisha floating the iron axe head. Then in verse 8 the story changes to a fascinating study on how God allows certain people “to see” things that others do not. He blinds and unblinds people when He chooses. It matters not whether it is Elisha’s servant or the entire Syrian army.
I had my “aha moment” when the story ended in vv. 22-23 with Elijah commanding the king of Israel to prepare bread and water for the Syrian troops who had been blinded by God and led by Elisha to Samaria.
Elisha understood that God had blinded the enemy of Israel; therefore, the Syrian troops were in fact captives. By preventing the king of Israel from sinning by smiting his captives and instead, displaying kindness by feeding the Syrian enemy, the Syrian troops declined to fight and just went home “to their master.”
The situation was resolved without a fight. The entire short story about Elisha is like a master’s class in spiritual warfare and the Lord does a similar thing in 2 Kings, chapter 7.
So, my story began while drinking water in peaceful fellowship with James Bruggeman at the Atlanta Bread Company over a week ago and ended with similar themes in Elisha today: fellowship, bread, water and peace. Well-played, Father, well-played!
I feel confident in the success of the upcoming prayer campaign because God never loses anything…ever. I’ll see James again next week and it will be an interesting conversation as always.
Blessings,
Elmer
P.S. I was compelled to write to you. My ankle was bothering me this morning, but the pain was manageable, and I just chalked it up to the change in the weather. When my son returned from school in the early afternoon, I was in the middle of typing this email.
I thought it might be a good idea to go get some snacks for him because that’s what parents of hungry teenage boys do. Immediately my ankle pain became excruciating…it hadn’t felt this bad since before my surgery in 2015.
I tried to go to the store and could not even take one step away from the car without almost collapsing in pain. I drove home and noticed my ankle pain was improving. As I finished this email, the thought occurred to me to call James B. and relate the events of the past week.
Fortunately, he was able to speak with me a short time later. As we finished the call, I noticed my ankle pain was almost gone. I chuckled and told my son the Lord does NOT work in mysterious ways; He works all things for good and makes it painfully obvious…if only I would listen! I’m still learning how. I believe the rash on my back is going to change as soon as we can get to praying on Friday.